Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Friend mistaken for monkey and shot

A 53-year-old man climbing a fruit tree in a village in northern Malaysia had a narrow escape when he was shot and wounded by a friend who mistook him for a monkey.

Yahya Ahmad, from the northern state of Kedah, was putting protective coverings on jackfruits in an orchard owned by his friend, police were quoted as saying yesterday.

"The suspect was tracking a monkey which had been causing damage to his fruit trees that morning and saw the branches of the jackfruit tree shaking. He shot at the spot and hit Yahya instead," a policeman said.

Yahya escaped serious injury because the shotgun pellets that blasted his body and leg did not penetrate deeply, he added.